My hometown of Boston has been in the news lately, and the heroics, solidarity, and support on display in a city otherwise known for a cold exterior has made many glow with pride and a bit of sentimentality.

"I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long," sang Tom Waits in his 1974 song, "San Diego Serenade." I've been living around Boston since 1982, but it was not until I went out and started touring with my band, Buffalo Tom, from 1989 to 1999 that I started to really identify it as my hometown. Now, even if we relocated to Bora Bora (which is tempting come February in the Hub), our band will be forever identified as a "Boston band." And when we sing "I'm in between the coasts but my mind must be back in Boston" on our 1991 song "Crutch," it raises a predictable cheer here in town.

And that's about as close as we ourselves got to a shout-out to our city. Thankfully, there are not a whole lot of "Boston, fuck yeah!" songs. But here are some rock songs that I think as quintessentially Boston in some way (obvious) or another (not so).

So to kick off your weekend, and celebrate our town, here they are, in no particular order: